HMS ''Venus'' (renamed HMS ''Heroine'' in 1809) was the name ship of the 36-gun
''Venus''-class fifth-rate frigate
A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied.
The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...
s of the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
. She was launched in 1758 and served for more than half a century until 1809. She was reduced from 36 to 32 guns in 1792. She was sold in 1822.
Career
On 18 May 1759, ''Venus'',
HMS ''Thames'', and
HMS ''Chatham'', were in company when ''Venus'' intercepted the French
frigate
A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied.
The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...
''Arethuse'' near Audierne Bay (''
Baie d'Audierne'' ).
[
] After a two-hour chase, ''Arethuse'' lost her top masts and was overtaken. ''Thames'' and ''Venus'' engaged her with heavy fire, causing 60 casualties before she surrendered.
''Arethuse'' subsequently had a lengthy career as
HMS ''Arethusa''.
and ''Venus'' captured the French
East Indiaman
East Indiamen were merchant ships that operated under charter or licence for European trading companies which traded with the East Indies between the 17th and 19th centuries. The term was commonly used to refer to vessels belonging to the Bri ...
''Bertin'' on 3 April 1761 and sent her into Plymouth. There the Royal Navy purchased her and commissioned as the
third rate
In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker).
Rating
When the rating system was f ...
.
On 23 September 1762 ''Venus'' and her sister ship were off
Rame Head in Cornwall when they encountered an unidentified vessel which raised sail and fled. After a twelve-hour chase the vessel was overtaken and
struck its colours in surrender to ''Venus''. A boarding party from Venus determined the captured vessel to be a ''Galgo'', a 14-gun Spanish
privateer
A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...
with a crew of 136 men.
American Revolution
On 27 January, 1778 she and captured Massachusetts privateer schooner True Blue on the
Georges Bank.
Mount Hope Bay raids: She participated in the Raids.
French Revolutionary Wars
On 27 May 1793, ''Venus,'' Captain Jonathon Faulkner'','' encountered the French frigate ''La Sémillante'' south-west of
Cape Finisterre which resulted in close action. "The sails, rigging and spars of the British frigate had taken the brunt of the enemy fire and were extremely cut up so that a further engagement was inadvisable. Indeed she was lucky to escape an encounter with a fresh opponent."
On 17 July 1801,
''Tromp'', , and ''Venus'' left Portsmouth with a convoy to the West Indies.
Napoleonic Wars
On the morning of 10 July 1805, ''Venus'' encountered the French privateer brig ''Hirondelle''. After a chase of 65 miles, during which ''Hirondelle'' threw two of her 6-pounder guns overboard, ''Venus'' succeeded in capturing her quarry. ''Hirondelle'', of Dunkirk, was armed with four 6-pounder guns and twelve 3-pounder guns, and had a crew of 90 men. She left Gigeon, Spain, on 27 June, but had not captured anything. However, on prior cruise, she had captured several vessels, most notably the Falmouth
packet ''Queen Charlotte'', which had resisted for some two hours before
striking her colours.
On 18 January 1807 ''Venus'' captured the French privateer brig ''Determinée'' of Guadeloupe, one hundred
leagues east of Barbados after a chase of 16 hours. ''Determinée'' had a crew of 108 men and was pierced for 20 guns but carried only 14. The British took her into service as .
''Venus'' was paid-off and put into
Ordinary in July 1807 at Woolwich. On 14 July 1807 she was renamed ''Heroine'' after the capture of the Danish vessel .
[Winfield (2008), p.190.]
Between March and May 1809 she was fitted for Baltic service. Captain
Hood Hanway Christian recommissioned ''Heroine'' in March and commanded her until November 1809. ''Heroine'' participated in the reduction of
Flushing in 1809 during the
Walcheren Campaign
The Walcheren Campaign () was an unsuccessful United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British expedition to the Kingdom of Holland in 1809 intended to open another front in the Austrian Empire's struggle with First French Empire, France ...
. In this engagement ''Heroine'' was part of a squadron of ten frigates under the command of Captain
Lord William Stuart.
On 11 August 1809 this squadron sailed up the western Scheldt under a light wind, suffering minor damage from the shore batteries of Flushing and Cadzand. Two men were wounded on ''Heroine''.
Fate
''Heroine'' was paid off and laid up at Sheerness between November 1809 and December 1823. Between 1817 and 1820 she served as a receiving ship. Then between December 1823 and June 1824 she underwent fitting at Woolwich to serve as a temporary convict ship.
[ The Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy offered "Heroine, of 32 guns and 722 tons", lying at Deptford, for sale on 22 September 1828.][
]
Notes
Citations
References
*
* Gardiner, Robert ''The First Frigates'', Conway Maritime Press, London 1992. .
*
*
* Lyon, David ''The Sailing Navy List'', Conway Maritime Press, London 1993. .
*
* .
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Venus (1758)
1758 ships
Ships built on the River Mersey
Fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy